You are here

Equal Rights Amendment

Many people today take for granted that equal rights between men and women are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution – and are shocked when they learn that they are not. To this day, the right to vote is the only right guaranteed to the women who make up more than 50% of the population. That is why I have reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), to give women the constitutional protection they need and deserve.

The ERA passed in Congress in 1972, and was sent to the states for ratification. Unfortunately, by the time the allotted deadline had passed in 1982, the ERA was just three states shy of the thirty-eight ratifications necessary for inclusion in the Constitution. I believe the states deserve another chance to pass this historic amendment.

Women have made incredible progress in the past thirty-five years, but unfortunately judicial attitudes can shift, and Congress can repeal existing laws with a simple majority vote. In recent years, there have been efforts to roll back women’s rights in education, health, employment, and even domestic violence. As the great suffragist and author of the ERA Alice Paul said: “We shall not be safe until the principle of equal rights is written into the framework of our government.”

On August 1, 2013, I reintroduced the Equal Rights Amendment (H.J.Res 56) in the 113th Congress. The ERA is a constitutional amendment which would prohibit denying or abridging equal rights under law by the United States or any state on account of sex. This critical amendment would guarantee the equal rights of men and women by:

Clarifying the legal status of sex discrimination for the courts, by making sex a suspect category subject to strict judicial scrutiny, as race, religion, and national origin currently are.

Guaranteeing equal footing for women in the legal systems of all 50 states.

Ensuring that government programs and federal resources benefit men and women equally.

New York, NY – Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-12) was joined by many women leaders, including Liz Abzug, President of Bella Abzug Leadership Institute; Kathy Bonk, of Communications Consortium Media Center; Zenaida Mendez, President of NOW-NYS; Marilyn Abalos, of New York Women’s Agenda today, today, on Women’s Equality Day, near Washington Square Park, to announce and celebrate Congresswoman Maloney’s new and improved Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which, for the first time, would include women in the U.S. Constitution. They also joined together to kick off Congresswoman Maloney’s day-long Walking the Walk, Talking the Talk tour.

WASHINGTON, DC – At a rally on Capitol Hill today, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today marked the 40th Anniversary of the original passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) with renewed calls for support of the measure, which they introduced in the current Congress.

“The Equal Rights Amendment is still needed because the only way for women to achieve permanent equality in the U.S. is to write it into the constitution,” Rep. Maloney said. “While it’s been thrilling to see how far women have come in my lifetime, laws can change, government regulations can be weakened, and judicial opinions can shift. Making women’s equality a constitutional right—after Congress passes and 38 states ratify the ERA—would place the United States on record, albeit more than 200 years late, that women are fully equal in the eyes of the law.”

“The WalMart case decided by the Supreme Court this week is a classic example of how far attitudes must still come. The facts of the case support the view that over a million women were systematically denied equal pay by the world’s largest employer,” Maloney said. “While the ERA would apply only to government action, its effect would be sweeping, historic—and long overdue.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Gwen Moore, along with representatives from national women’s organizations, joined outside the Capitol today-- as the U.S. Constitution was being read on the House floor-- to highlight the absence of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and restate the need for its passage.

WASHINGTON, DC - American women still do not constitutionally have equal rights under the law, even though the U.S. ensured equal rights for women in the Afghan constitution. Polls have shown that most Americans support equal rights, but they think they are already guaranteed in our Constitution. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14), John Dingell (MI-15) and Rob Andrews (NJ-1) were joined by leading women’s groups at a press conference today as they re-introduced the bipartisan ERA.

WASHINGTON, DC - A constitutional amendment has been proposed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that would guarantee California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other foreign-born citizens the right to run for president. Meanwhile, the Constitution still has no guarentee of equal rights for the 146,708,000 women who are United States citizens. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a long-time sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment, today released the following statement: